Chapter 134 Aether Magazine

Theo and the rest of the guests stopped talking immediately.

"Come on! Let's eat, big brother!" Aurora said with a sweet voice as she pulled Theo toward where the dinner was.

Theo laughed and accepted being pulled by Aurora again.

Shortly after, all guests were gathered around the food.

"I don't have much to say; I think we can eat first, and afterward we can make our speeches, okay?" Aurora said when she everyone.

"Yeah!" They all agreed.

Everyone was hungry and the delicious smell of food was too tempting.

Everyone then proceeded to take a plate and put food on it.

Everything looked delicious and beautiful.

After all, everything was cooked by professional cooks and a talented chef.

If the dishes were not beautifully presented and with a wonderful taste, they would be ashamed to call themselves cooks.

And they cooked with even more care as they knew it was their boss' birthday.

They knew that Theo was an amazing cook, so they wanted to be worthy of cooking on his birthday.

And the result was amazing.

Everyone was amazed by the amazing taste of all dishes.

The meat was juicy and amazingly seasoned.

The side dished complemented perfectly the meat bringing light and fresh taste after the meat.

Everyone ate their fill with enthusiasm.

"This is delicious, guys!" Theo commented as he ate.

They smiled proudly when they heard their boss' compliment.

Ayia and Aurora also smiled when they heard that, they wanted everything to be perfect that night.

After everyone had eaten and the food was almost finished, Aurora asked Sylph to bring the drinks for the guests.

There was wine and beer for the people over 18 years old.

(In the Sakura Abode Country, people over 18 years old was considered adult already)

And there were milkshakes and juices for the people under 18 years old.

"Alcohol!" Ayia exclaimed when she saw the drinks arriving.

Everyone laughed when they saw Ayia shouting that.

After a while, everyone chose a drink and seated again to talk.

Theo was drinking wine as he talked with his friends.

"You guys better not drink too much; we have work tomorrow." Kimiko said as she saw her friends drinking beer.

"Kikiko-chan, you're the one to talk! You get drunk faster than any of us!" Lauren exclaimed giggling.

"Yeah, I still have the video of our last party!" Shoko exclaimed.

"T-that's not relevant!" Kimiko replied with a red face.

They all laughed when they saw her expression.

"Did you see that some chef was saying bad stuff about our restaurant?" Max said suddenly.

"What?" Everyone looked at Max with shocked faces.

"Who dares?" Lauren exclaimed with a grumpy face.

The others could not believe it either.

'The Spark' restaurant was almost perfect, and they said that not because they worked there.

Maybe a little bit.

But because the restaurant had extremely high standards and quality.

Theo sipped his wine and looked at Max curiously.

He wanted to know who was complaining about his restaurant.

"Tell us quickly!" Ayia said with an unusual grumpy face, she did not like people talking bad stuff about the place she loved so much.

"Okay, okay!" Max said exasperated when he saw that everyone was urging him to tell the story.

"You guys know that there are two renowned restaurants in Elffire City, right?" Max asked.

"Yeah, the first one is called 'The Pork House' and the other one is called 'Ultra'" Shoko replied.

"They are even awarded by the Aether Magazine!"

"Yeah! The first one has one Aether Star and the second has two Aether Stars!"

"Wow!"

It was important to mention that Aether Magazine was the most important culinary magazine in the entire world.

The magazine was founded by Aether Family, they had Yamato and Pendragon ancestors, so they were a wealthy family.

100 years ago, they had a small restaurant in Sakura City when they decided to make a magazine to advertise their establishment.

Everything started by writing about food, afterward other restaurants paid them to advertise their restaurants.

Little by little the Aether Family started being stricter with which restaurants they advertised in their magazine.

20 years after creating the magazine, the Aether Family decided to grade the restaurant from one to three stars.

From that moment on, the legend of the Aether Stars was born.

Any restaurant that managed to get into the Aether Stars rank became famous.

And yes, the Aether Star is very similar to the Michelin Star from Theo's past life.

The only difference was how the rank was created, but the objective was the same.

Currently, becoming an Aether Star restaurant meant that the restaurant would become known worldwide, and the restaurant would become a tourist attraction in the city.

As tourists that visited Elffire City would want to visit the restaurant.

And that's because we didn't talk about how famous the chef and kitchen staff would become.

"What about these two restaurants?" Ayia asked impatiently, she did not think much about Aether Star restaurants.

She has visited uncountable of restaurants like these, so she was not impressed.

"Well, there's this restaurant that I don't know if you guys heard about it. It's called 'Saint Peter'." Max continued.

"Yeah, although it's not an Aether Star restaurant. It is one of most restaurants in town." Sayuri replied.

"Well, apparently, the chef of this restaurant does not like that our restaurant became so famous. I heard that he will get an Aether inspector to grade his restaurant next year, so he didn't want a new restaurant stealing his limelight. I also heard that he did not think our food was good." Max told them.

"That's absurd!" Ayia exclaimed annoyed.

"That's only what I heard." Max replied while shaking his head.

"I think this guy is too full of himself. He obviously doesn't know when the inspector will come to his restaurant, and he's already worrying about another restaurant stealing his limelight?" Lauren said angrily.

Just like Michelin inspectors from Theo's past life, the Aether inspectors went to grade the restaurants undercover.

This way the restaurant would show how a normal day of service went by.

"It doesn't make any sense. I think he's scared of our success if you ask my opinion." June said thoughtfully.

"He must have seen all the commotion the clients make and he was jealous of us." Shoko said.

"And to think that this idiot has a chance to get an Aether Star!" Kin said sorrowfully.

"I will be so mad if he gets one!" Gwen exclaimed.

"What are the chances of our restaurant being inspected too?" Aurora asked suddenly.

Their eyes lit up when they heard that, but they became downcast again when Kimiko replied, "The time limit to be inspected after sending an email to the Aether Magazine is 12 months. It will be very difficult for the inspector that will evaluate the 'Saint Peter' restaurant to decide to inspect our restaurant too."

"Yeah, I think Kimiko-chan is right. These inspectors usually only do what the mission entrail and they are super strict too. It will be almost impossible for this inspector to come to our restaurant." Shoko said with a sad face.

"The worst part is that if that idiot gets an Aether Star, his words against our restaurant will be much more impactful with the public." Kimiko commented.

"What do you think of this, boss?" Max asked.

Everyone looked at Theo curiously, after all, it was his restaurant and he was the head chef.

Theo, who only smiled throughout the exchange, laughed when Max asked him the question.

Everyone was confused when they saw him laughing.

"I don't need to worry. Even if he gets the Aether Star, he won't be able to take our clients away. Our food is way better anyway!" Theo replied with a brilliant smile.

His arrogant words and absolute confidence were extremely charming.

They could feel that he did not have an ounce of worry.

They could not help but laugh too.

Yes! Their food was better!

Why worry?